Kongregate Wiki:Editors' Guide to Dealing with Vandalism
Editors' Guide to Dealing with Vandalism As editors of this wiki, we all have seen our fair share of vandalism. Vandalism incorporates a lot of the worst kind of trolling, and can include spamming, erasing articles, and adding irrelevant nonsense. Vandalism is an extremely broad subject to cover, but as a loyal wiki editor and Kongregate user, I will do my best to give my knowledge, advice, and fail-safes on dealing with vandals. How to Recognize Vandalism * Deleting-Have portions of material been removed from the wiki with no cause or reason? Have entire pages been blanked? * Spamming-Is there repeated use of a single word, phrase, or image? Are there strings of unending gibberish? * Trolling-Is there completely irrelevant information added to the wiki? Has nonsense been inserted at random points? Have pages been made with no clear or necessary purpose? * Victimizing-Has material been added that negatively targets any person or group of people? Is it not in good spirits but based out of discriminatory opinions? * Warring-Are two or more editors constantly altering, deleting, or reverting one another's edits? Is the Recent Activity page being crowded with their useless back-and-forth? * Recognizing-Does the suspect have a history of committing any or all of these acts? Do they show any signs of genuine care for the wiki? Steps on Dealing with Vandalism # It is always possible that alleged vandals are not actually deliberately ruining the wiki. Consider the possibility that they are only trying to contribute and simply require a little guidance. Edit warring is one example of this, in which multiple editors crowd the recent history page by simply changing and erasing each other's edits. Though all involved might have good intentions, this is a form of spamming all its own. Attempt to work something out with them-maybe offering advice or establishing terms-to help them help you. Of course, if it is overly apparent that they are vandalizing with full intent of their actions, skip this step and take more severe action. # If you can't compromise with them and it is abundantly clear that they only mean harm to the wiki, waste no time reporting their actions to a wiki administrator. After saving an edit on any page, an option appears to type out the name of any vandal that gets sent straight to the administrators. Remember, though, that it is case specific. So make sure you have their names completely correct before taking the administrators' time. They are the best suited to recognize and stomp out vandalism. # There is a slim chance that a vandal may have already destroyed entire pages of wiki progress before you could message an administrator, and that they may be doing it even as you wait to hear back. Understand, and this is paramount, that administrators have the authority and power to revert ALL changes a user has ever made. Simply explain the situation to them and in short notice expect it to be reverted to its original state. Fire Doesn't Beat Fire Vandals are trolls, simply said. They generally have no care for how the wiki turns out, and if they do, it is misplaced to the point of incomprehensibility. Maybe they're thinking on a level inconceivable to us humble editors, or maybe they just want to watch the world burn. In either case, they aren't doing us any good now, where it counts. Don't expect to win by presuming they have the same mindset as you. By stooping to their level, you are merely casting oil into the flames. The way to victory lies in the steps I mentioned earlier, and while it may not be a flawless system, most vandals don't care enough to exploit its loopholes. For more information on how to recognize or deal with vandalism, simply contact any Kongregate wiki administrator. Category:Community Category:Policy